After Cindy Sheehan's son Casey was killed in an illegal war
in Iraq, she
devoted her life to her son's memory.
She tried to ask President George W. Bush why her son had died but was
shunned by the Commander-in-Chief who had sent her son to his death. She refused to settle for silence. She camped outside Bush's ranch and made her
presence and the need for an answer known. Former newswoman Bree Walker provided a ranch down
the road from Bush's. There, Cindy created
a base for her protests.

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Cindy's actions were not limited to her remembering her own
son. She let America
know about deaths of thousands of servicemen.
Cindy created a group called Gold Star Families for Peace for those who
had lost a loved one in Iraq. She organized peace rallies and stood against
war funding in an effort to save sons who had not yet died. In 2006 she was
arrested in the House gallery for wearing an anti-war T-shirt to Bush's State
of the Union Address. It read "2,245
Dead. How many

In 2008, she ran for Congress in San
Francisco against Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi is the Democratic leader considered to
be the top enabler of continuation of the wars. Evidence from the anti-prop 8 campaign
indicates that the votes in San Francisco
were either not counted or were miscounted.
The Mayor of the San Francisco
was related to Nancy Pelosi. Numerous
other events, including break-ins into Sheehan's headquarters with a refusal of
the police to properly investigate indicated that her campaign had run afoul of
the powers that be in the city.

Cindy has refused to let hunger, sickness and unjust
imprisonment deter her from fighting for peace. Cindy continues to be the
mother who has inspired a movement and who has encouraged other mothers to
follow her lead of working for peace.

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Cynthia McKinney

Cynthia McKinney set an example for her son Coy. She is a mother who has been dedicated to peace and human rights for
most of her life. When she was in the
Georgia State Legislature, she stood up against the first Gulf War as haws in
the Georgia State
legislature walked out.

Cynthia McKinney ran afoul of the pro-war interests when she
questioned the events leading up to 9/11/01. She took the lead against the PATRIOT Act and
the Iraq War. She
was unable to stop the war. So she
turned her peace work towards defunding the war and bringing it to a
close. She stood up to Democratic
Congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi who was a major force in keeping the wars
continuing. For this, McKinney
was punished by Pelosi but this didn't deter McKinney
from her course. Throughout her time in
Congress McKinney remained a strong peace and human rights leader.

Her quest for peace resulted in her risking her life more
than once to bring medical supplies to the children of Gaza. Her boat, the Dignity, was rammed and fired
upon by the Israeli Government in 2008.
It had to turn back. This didn't
stop her. She and Mairead Maguire
returned on the Spirit of Humanity. This
time these women and others were taken prisoner by the Israeli Government. Eight days in an Israeli prison didn't deter McKinney
from trying again. Next, she went over
land and brought what supplies she could carry into Gaza.

Later she organized a Dignity delegation to Libya
to try to end the NATO and US backed genocide.

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McKinney was
selected as the Green Presidential candidate in 2008 and was considered the
real peace candidate for President in the general election that year.

"If we want to live in a world of peace, we
must learn from our history and see that war is an unnatural phenomenon; we
need to reject it on a philosophical and spiritual level. Removing war from our
conscience creates space for dialogue and diplomacy and brings us closer to a
shared utopia."